As Trump’s second term of presidency looms closer, drastically revised immigration policies become imminent. Trump asserts that reduced immigration will revitalize the American economy and culture, given his frequent claims that immigrants have “poisoned the blood of our country,” referring to their increased demographic within prisons, mental institutions, and detention centers across the country. He cultivates an irrational fear towards immigration on the premise of immigrants’ ascribed inferiority and incompetence; impressions that are often inaccurate and falsely justified. Trump’s primary justification is to dehumanize immigrants as he believes they are not human and cannot be accepted into American society. Despite influencing many voters, such assertions lack validity. Instead, Trump’s lackluster justifications stem from past political ideals for slavery, torture, and human misconduct, inferring a backward progression for modern politics.
Such morally incorrect, and therefore false, political ideologies date back to the early Middle Ages. In 1215, the Magna Carta abolished the infamous divine right of kings, which had been primarily exploited by monarchs to reject accountability for immoral actions. The divine right asserted that kings were direct human representations of God, and thus had the power to accurately justify or redefine various autocracies and principles on their own accord. For example, the divine right was often used to justify murder or torture willed by the king, given that the king’s desires directly correlated with those of God. Here, the monarch uses absurd religious ideologies to remove their responsibility for immoral crimes. Inevitably, this drastic power imbalance wrought havoc upon the global structure of government and society and thus provoked urgent renouncement. Alluding back to Trump, the best way to manage such blatant absurdity within leadership is to denounce the quality of divinity altogether, as was achieved by the terms of the Magna Carta. Arguably, divinity in itself, omits an air of extremity and irrationality, which is harmful for the operation of a logical and justifiable political system. One cannot rely on unbridled beliefs when navigating politics and must seek attributes of rationality and fairness, which the Trump campaign fervently lacks.
Nonetheless, the theme of divinity maintained its prevalence in a world previously overburdened by religion. Divinity also played a crucial role during the colonization of the Americas, aiding the motivations of Spanish conquistadors seeking to evangelize indigenous communities, parallel to Trump’s false justifications. Conquistador Bernaz Díaz del Castillo stated that “We came to serve God,” when occupying native land, aligning their misconduct with religious justification. Castillo asserts his supposed religious divinity as an intrinsic right for colonizers to abuse native land and power, similarly done by kings to commit obscenities without any repudiation. Divinity persists with the era of American Manifest Destiny from 1812-1867, during which slavery was redefined as a “natural” moral quest for private settlers’ enslavement and humane exploitation. Essentially, the rhetoric of divinity becomes a tactical measure for leadership parties to unfairly avoid responsibility for their moral and political crimes.
Albeit in a less drastic manner, Trump abides by the same rhetoric when justifying his extremist policies and views. Trump’s justification does not rely on religious doctrines but stems from the same culture of irrational logic used by predecessors advocating for divinity. Arguably, his demoralization of immigrants weakens his political craft, by demonstrating a lack of thorough and fair analysis expected from a good leader. Trump favors irrational dehumanization over logical truths; immigrants are not animals and have indeed contributed effectively to many sectors of professional, social, and economic life in America. Moreover, modern American nationhood itself could not have existed without past assimilation and immigration. To propose mass deportation and immigration prevention would be simply irrational, potentially harming national resources and political stability, as well as threatening America’s advocacy of humanitarian values and fairness. Trump’s inhumane justifications decelerate the advancement of American politics, prompting inarticulate and unreasonable policies. Additionally, the extensive support for the Trump campaign triggers grave ideological calamity amongst civilians, as America risks returning to a system that may promote false and irrational beliefs of his divine leadership. This is caused by both the quantity and justification of his support, with 77 million votes, representative of his all-consuming influence through extreme views. Here, Trump assumes the position of a divine king before the Magna Carta to similarly exploit his irrational ideology, thus hindering the progression of politics which seeks a more fair and justifiable system.
